This subject matter described herein relates to a graphical user interface for a computing device. Many applications that run on computing devices, such as various types of computers, mobile phones, PDA (personal digital assistants), portable media players, etc., allow users to enter text in text boxes that are displayed on the graphical user interface (GUI). Many companies that provide services available through the Internet, for example, various search engine providers, such as Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., use text boxes as a means for users to input various information or search queries, etc.
In order to facilitate the input of text from the user, an auto-complete function is often provided. Typically, when using such a function, a drop-down menu with suggested words is displayed as the user types the text in the text box. The drop-down menu typically changes for each character the user types into the text box in order to provide increasingly relevant suggestions to the user. In some instances the drop-down menu contains different categories of suggestions. This is the case, for example, in the text search box provided in Google Toolbar, a browser plug-in available from Google Inc. For example, the auto-complete drop-down menu can be divided into suggestions matching one or more of the following three different data types: (i) spelling corrections, (ii) search history, and (iii) query suggestions. Having a drop-down menu with the suggestions arranged into categories may make it easier for the user to more quickly find the particular suggestion that matches the word the user is about to enter into the text box.
Another example includes the Spotlight software, for the Macintosh OS X operating system, provided by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Spotlight is a system wide desktop feature that displays an auto-complete drop-down that offers suggestions of many different data types when a user starts typing a word in the text box. Some examples of data types include Applications, System Preferences, Documents, Folders, Mail Messages, Contacts, Events & To Do Items, Images, PDF Documents, Bookmarks, Music, Movies, Fonts, etc. That is, not only search queries are suggested, but also names of local files on the user's computer that the user may want to access.
In both of the above examples, the suggested words are displayed within a single drop-down menu. As was discussed above, the drop-down menu can be segmented into different sections with titles acting as delimiters, but ultimately suggestions are still presented as a single list. As a result, keyboard access to, say, the first item of the third section of the drop-down menu, requires stepping through the first two sections before reaching the third section which contains the relevant suggestion. This can often be a nuisance to the user, especially on mobile devices.